Sing Me To Sleep
by wobblyleggedrumsoakedpirates
Summary: What if during Hermione's torture, they didn't escape as fast as planned? What if it lasted a lot longer? Hermione is left broken in the middle of the floor when an unexpected person gives her a fragment of hope. That one moment could change everything for two people. Draco/Hermione NOW A MULTI-CHAPTER STORY
1. Sing Me To Sleep

**AN: So this is a story I came up with based on a few of those awesome manips on Tumblr and the song "Sing Me To Sleep" By Emily Browning from the movie **_**Sucker Punch**_**. **

Hermione screamed a long low animal sounding wail, her voice gone by this point but all she could do was howl, wait for more healing potion, and howl again. Bellatrix had been with her on the floor for what felt like an eternity. It could have been days, it could have been years, it could have only been minutes for all Hermione knew. She just knew agony. She couldn't escape it, couldn't outthink it, and couldn't run from it. She was trapped in a cage of her own body. She could feel a puddle of her own blood cooling around her, her hair sticking to it in matted clumps.

"Bellatrix, must we do this into the night? Leave the girl. She's not getting anywhere tonight. Leave her until the morning." Narcissa exclaimed with a bored tone. Hermione wanted to prove the statement wrong but she knew she couldn't. Her legs were broken, her skin mutilated, and her will to move crushed for the moment. She just wanted to stop hurting, she didn't care how it happened, just that hopefully it would happen.

Bellatrix snapped Hermione out of her reverie when the mad witch grabbed her chin and made Hermione look into her soulless eyes.

"Stay." She said as if she were talking to a dog and then giggled hysterically, ruffling Hermione's hair like an affectionate aunt before she climbed off of Hermione's body and walked away with her family.

Hermione was alone then and the lights were turned off. She was left in a pool of darkness with her own thoughts. She stared at the ceiling and just broke down, sobbing violently. She hadn't begged during her torture. She had just screamed her loudest. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her beg, but her tears? They came freely now and she couldn't stop them.

Hermione didn't know when it happened but at some point the crying turned into sort of a dry heaving sobbing and she was able to pick up something else...a soft quiet humming in the room. It was so faint that she actually had to go completely silent and listen. The voice was a little desperate and the humming sounded almost more self-reassuring than anything else.

She felt something brush her arm and made a choked sound and jerked from the motion. A smooth hand came to her forehead and she cringed away as the rubbing on her arm continued.

"Granger, stop moving or I'll never get the cut clean." An irritated voice said that shocked her to her core. The voice was Draco's.

She wondered what the hell he was doing down here...if he was going to kick her when she was down because he thought it was fun or because it would be revenge for whatever current reason he decided to loathe her. He did none of those things. Hermione kept waiting...and waiting but that low soft humming continued and he wiped down most of her cuts by hand, using magic on very few. She couldn't find her voice to speak. She was still agonized and enthralled.

"I...I can't help you, you know." Hermione finally heard Draco say in frustration. "It's not possible, I can only do this. I can't help you escape. I'd be killed." He added as if he expected her to understand. Hermione was all out of sympathy at the moment, she couldn't even see him.

Soon she felt his body leave the spot next to her and he appeared next to the window, his hair reflected in the moonlight a little. He looked...well tortured. Of course Hermione had a new definition of that word in her mind, but he did look troubled and conflicted.

"I'm not a hero." Draco said finally. "You were right...I'm a coward." He admitted. "I like my standing, I like my life...well _liked _ my life and I can't risk it anymore. I can't cross You Know Who. I...won't die for your cause." He said looking at her. His grey eyes begged her to understand. "I'm not like Potter or That red headed git." Draco finished, and Hermione found that his irritation at Ron unable to be squashed even in a confession.

"I'm sorry...for...a lot." He stated after a moment of silence. "I'm not the hero but...I don't want to be the villain either." He mutteredweakly, Hermione almost had to strain to hear him. "I'm sorry for calling you a mudblood...you obviously bleed the same color as me." His face looked almost, amused. Like he was on the recieving end of a cruel joke, but was laughing like he was a part of it as he looked at the dried blood next to her feet. "I...I am not my father and I don't want to be." He exclaimed almost proudly. After that, things fell silent. That sort of desperate humming coming back for a few moments.

Hermione's eyelids felt heavy soon, the exhaustion taking in as the adrenaline left her body. She felt Draco's touch one last time as he brushed her matted hair off of her forehead.

"You really are the brightest witch of our age you know." He stated gently and Hermione swore she felt him kiss the top of her head as she fell asleep.

In the middle of the night she could hear herself being moved, hear Bellatrix sounding the alarm and waking the whole house up, hear the spells reverberating off the walls and...possibly Dobby? Her eyes were swollen shut by this point so it was hard to tell. She knew Ron was carrying her, she knew his smell, but truly, the only thing that was left with her was the soft desperate sound of humming and the faintest brush of a kiss forever burned into her mind.


	2. Defiance:Our Most Awakened Inclination

**AN: Wow...thank you guys SO much. The story follows and the reviews made me rethink the one-shot and come up with a whole plot-line for these two. I am so unbelievably happy at the positive response that I got and I HOPE that this story makes you guys happy too! I got a few questions on the subject and I want to assure you all that this WILL end up being a Draco/Hermione story. This chapter takes place during that battle at hogwarts, picking up from the room of requirement.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or it's characters. I don't own the song lyrics I use for all my chapters and the title. If I did I would be filthy stinkin rich lying on a beach with Fred and George fanning me somewhere. This is just for my entertainment. **

…...

Draco's POV

"Why didn't you tell them who we were? You knew...and you didn't say anything." Harry asked him and Draco had to examine it himself, go back to that night, to when he had lied to save the boy who lived and the golden trio...and then the incident with Hermione. He couldn't explain what compelled him both times but if he had to try, he would have explained it as passive heroics. Draco _couldn't _ be a hero. He thought constantly of himself, didn't care about others often, and liked doing things that other said were morally grey or wrong. However, what his aunt had done, what would happen if the Dark Lord had found out it was Harry Potter...that would have been bad.

Draco had seen the world that his dad deemed better, that his dad's friends and the Dark Lord's supporters had deemed 'better' and he couldn't stomach it. It was fear and threats all day every day. It was murders and his family, his prestigious family was...normal in that world. In a world where EVERYBODY had a pure bloodline, his didn't mean much. His father had been reduced to being a whipping boy, his mother had been reduced to leverage against him, and he was an errand boy, a pawn to be killed off whenever needed. Draco didn't care for that too much. In his mind, at that time, _that _was why he did it.

"Don't be a prat Draco!" Goyle said snapping him out of his thoughts. He wasn't going to kill Harry. He couldn't. Draco meant what he said, he didn't want to be the villain. He didn't have long to make the decision as his wand flew out of his hand and Granger of all people showed up, her red headed puppy dog following obediently behind. Draco bolted the second his wand flew out of his hand, not because he was scared of Granger, though the powerful witch like her with full strength and a wand was intimidating. Deep inside of him, he was running because he didn't want to answer Harry's question, he didn't want to answer any questions Hermione may have had. Not now. He was running from himself as much as he was running from them.

He could see his companions from the corners of his eyes and he could hear the weasel running after them yelling something about shooting spells at his girlfriend. A tiny part of him was grateful that Goyle threw the spell back at Ron, setting the room on fire, just because it shut the prick up.

Soon however he regretted that decision as the fire started to surround them and he had to start climbing debris to get away from it. When he saw Goyle falling and watched as the flames engulfed his form, Draco had a brief split second of sadness welled inside him before he started climbing again because he didn't want to end up like Goyle.

Of course Potter and Granger would save the day, grabbing them just in time. It's what they did. When they were out of the room of requirement. Draco ran off. Things were a mess, students were still scattered everywhere, spells were rebounding off the walls lighting everything up in brilliant shades and hues, and chaos reigned. Draco dodged hexes, killing curses, and every jinx that came at him as he wove through the throng of students and death eaters, sitting the battle out.

He was barely aware of the way his scar burned on his arm, the Dark Lord's words, the wailing, screaming, laughing, or any of the other sounds around him. He had gone to a different day completely, hiding inside of himself to keep himself sane. Thinking of a memory _Any_ memory that would make time slow down for a flickering moment, A time when things weren't so bloody complicated. He had a flickering image of laughing in the commons room, a glimpse of his first kiss with Pansy...though that hadn't meant so much, and a barrage of memories chanted over and over through his head. Then suddenly...a memory came out of nowhere, just a single moment in time that had started his mental metamorphosis from Purist Wizard to the grey area he was now. His mind drifted and for a split second, it took him back...

_Potions class, it was one of the few in which Draco was genuinely gifted. It wasn't just that Snape was the head of Slytherin house either. Draco liked potions. He liked the smell of the vapors when he walked in the room, the grotesque and usually dangerous ingredients, and the cold and damp walls of the dungeon. It was sort of like home to him. The Slytherin house had double potions with the Gryffindors that day, as they would be for the next month or so if the schedule was to be believed. _

_Because the weasel tended to cheat when he was paired with his would-be girlfriend, Snape had the brilliant or rather completely mental idea to put Slytherins with Gryffindor partners. Clearly the man was losing it and taking it out on the whole class. Draco found himself being pared with Granger of all people. His hatred of the bushy haired brunette was so fierce and intense that it was nearly palpable in the air. Yet as they started to work on their potion and their hands accidentally touched, when Hermione would send him a glance, her eyes burning with that equal hatred, Draco felt...alive. His skin would burn and ache when she touched him, his arm would stand on edge if it was near hers. It wasn't hatred. He knew hatred. It wasn't dread. It was longing. He wondered what it would be like if she touched him on purpose. If she gave him the kind of looks she gave Potter or Weasley. If she were to turn her smile in his direction. A kind caress to his face even instead of the cruel fist she had used on him last year. To know any kind of affection that wasn't because of his bloodline, wasn't because of his family, his looks, or his money. To just be touched like that for him...because she wanted to. He wondered what that would be like. _

Of course it was absolute nonsense and Draco snapped out of it quickly enough, nipping the memory in the bud. These were just nonsensical musings. _Weak _nonsensical musings. His father would stamp them out quickly if he was here and Draco knew that. He figured he was just having a childish moment and shoved it aside. By the time he had come to his senses and decided to be a man, the fighting had stopped. The Death Eaters were gone and the students were going to the main entrance of the castle. He followed, weaving his way to the frontline to see what the fuss was all about.

It was when Draco heard the piercing scream that he knew, seeing Harry Potter's body in the half-giant's arms really sent reality crashing down on his head. Draco saw his future laid out before his eyes and knew his death would be coming...and soon. No matter what he did, no matter where he went, eventually he would outrun his usefulness and he'd be killed, thrown away like rubbish. He was only half paying attention to the Dark Lord's speech and when it ended he saw his father...his half crazed, ragged, panicked, cowardly father beckoning to him. Was _this_ the best possible outcome for him? To stand trembling and cowering next to the darkest and most terrible wizard the world had known? Draco didn't want that. With a courage he swore he didn't possess he stood straight and looked his father in the eye with a hard glare. His father told him again and he just stood firm. It was only when his mother told him it was ok, not with fear, not with a placating glance at his father, but of her own merit said that it was ok that he stepped over. He'd take care of her and make sure she was ok, he'd cross over for her, but not for the man he called his father.

Of course a Gryffindor would make a speech about a last stand after he crossed over. It was in their foolish, stubborn blood. Draco was done with that too, it was just as irritating as the speeches about how doomed everyone was. He just wanted to go home.

Draco didn't know who was more surprised when Harry Potter seemingly lept back from the dead and out of the half-giant's arms with a poorly aimed curse at the Dark Lord's snake, the death eaters or the students. Regardless of course that meant the battle was back on. Surprisingly enough, his mother seemed to share his sentiments on all the fighting. She tugged him back and towards the bridge out of the castle, away from all the fighting. He had no doubts about his decision to leave it all behind. He did however want one last glimpse.

He turned back to see the golden trio gathering, running back through the castle and out of his veiw and then he knew...without even thinking about it that things were gonna be alright. Without another thought he took his Mother's hand, saw her look back through the corner of his eye, and kept walking. He could hear his father's stumbling steps as he tried to catch up to their proud stride but he didn't bother to slow. His father was a hollow shell, a broken man with nothing but faded dreams and crazed thoughts. Draco was the man of the house now and that was just what he was determined to be...a man.

_6 years later..._

HPOV

Hermione sat behind her desk at the ministry with an exasperated sigh, the work just seemed to pile up faster than she could make it disappear. There was always something to be done, always someone to talk to. She would never be finished. In an odd way though, Hermione liked it. Having a sense of purposes sort of drove her these days, made her feel useful. She was happy to be in the new position. She liked the Department of Magical Law Enforcement so far; it had a more direct approach to changing the way things worked in the wizarding world. Currently they were still trying to clean up the aftermath of the war, hunting down the remains of the Death Eater rebellion and setting up roadblocks so that sort of thing couldn't ever happen again.

With a slight huff, Hermione got out of her chair and started to walk out of her office and smacked straight into someone, her papers scattering and dropping all over the place. A blush flushed through her cheeks and she scrambled to the floor to pick them up quickly. "I'm so sorry I..." She looked up to apologize and her apology died in her throat when she saw Draco Malfoy looking down at her, eyebrow quirked. She internally grumbled and picked up her papers and stood up.

"What are you doing here Dra...Mr. Malfoy?" Hermione blurted out incredulously, surprised that he was showing up in the ministry.

"I'm your 10 o'clock appointment. I'm here to give you information and assist in apprehending some of the left over death eaters." Draco stated in what Hermione thought was an apathetic and even irritated tone. It took Hermione aback for a moment, but only a moment and she went back behind her desk shoving her papers in a file.

"What's in it for you?" She asked dryly. "Malfoys don't give something for nothing." She said sizing him up.

Draco didn't show any emotion at the dig, just a slight tightening of his eyes was all Hermione could catch. "I'm doing this to keep my family assets. The manor, my money in Gringotts, and...to see to it that my father stays in St. Mungos and doesn't go to Askaban again." He stated evenly.

Hermione pursed her lips to keep the slur of things she thought the Elder Malfoy should be subjected to and the fact that she thought he deserved to rot inside of her brain and not out of it.

"Ah, well then start talking. Tell me what you know." She said and with a flick of her wand had a quill write down what he was saying so that she could listen to it all and see if he was lying to save his own skin.

Hermione thought he seemed to be honest though...as honest as he could be. He told her where several people they had already apprehended were in the right spots and then proceeded to tell her a few more.

"Why are you just coming through with this information now? It's been a few years. Didn't you think this would be nice to know right after everything happened?" She growled in irritation when Draco paused.

_You were right. I'm a coward..._

The words came to her mind suddenly, a memory she had tried to shove deep down in the back of her mind where it couldn't do her any harm. A place where it could only bother her in her sleep when she couldn't keep it locked up tight. It was there now. Hermione brushed her hand over the scar she kept magically concealed on her arm absently. That was probably why he hadn't come forward. It was still too early to count either side out for more fighting or bloodshed and he hadn't wanted to be part of the crossfire.

"Did you just listen to a word I said Granger?" Draco said snapping Hermione out of her thoughts.

"No. I'm sorry...please repeat yourself?" She asked with grudging guilt. She hadn't been paying attention.

"I said that I wasn't around to give the information after the war ended and even if I was, I wasn't in the kind of circles that got said information. I got it from my father...while he still had the mental capacity to give it." He repeated with a cold glare.

"Right, well...this looks like it will check out, If so you're in the clear. I can't say it's been a pleasure but you're free to go ." She said with as professional of a voice as she could. "I suppose I should let you out and apologize for taking up your 'precious time'. You won't have to come down here again." She said with a little sarcasm leaking out of her voice.

Then Hermione saw something that would have made her jaw drop if she wasn't so good at keeping herself composed. Draco gave her a smile, not a smirk, not a witty quirk of his lips,but an honest smile, though it had more than a hint of grim satisfaction to it.

"That's where you're wrong _Miss _Granger." He said mocking the way she said his name, just enough to make Hermione's blood boil a little. "You're going to see me tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that until you quit or I do. That was the other part of my deal. I have a job in the ministry. My father served the ministry a long time before his...allegiances were known and that wasn't forgotten. Malfoys before him had ministry jobs as well. That's one tradition I don't mind continuing." He said with what hermione thought was a smug chuckle.

"I'll be right down the hall." He said getting up, throwing his suit jacket over his shoulder and left Hermione there before she could get out a single word. This was going to be bad. This was going to be so incredibly bad, not only for the fact that Malfoy stirred anger in her that she didn't even know she still had, brought up memories she had kept hidden, and was the biggest bigoted asshole she had ever met. But also for the simple fact that Ron and Harry were Aurors and would have to work with him all the time too. Hermione put her head in her hands and rubbed her temples. She was scared because Draco Malfoy was back in her life...and she wasn't completely terrified by that fact.

**AN: One more author's note here before I let you go on your way. I have the first few chapters written up and if people are still interested...heck even if they're not I've already written them so there is no harm in putting them up, I'll put them up. haha. I also wanted to address something else real quick. Draco Malfoy isn't a bucket full of mushy emotions...at least not on his sleeve. He compartmentalizes and keeps it all inside, but even his thoughts are gonna be a little scattered. He's a wounded animal in a lot of ways and there is a reason you're not supposed to mess with wounded animals kiddos...they bite. So he's not gonna be the guy you sorta see in the prologue/first chapter right away. I don't intend to make he and Hermione fall in love with each other and run away in two paragraphs. It may take a little time but I PROMISE it will be worth it. I LOVE reviews and comments so feel free to leave any if you like. Much love to all! **


	3. The Light That You Shine Can't Be Seen

**AN: Again, I know I sound like a broken record player here but thank you all so much. All of the reviews and follows mad me so happy. I spent a little time going over what I had already written and seeing where to go from my last chapter before I rebooted my story a little and now I know where to take it! I hope ya'll enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Of course I don't own anything. It all belongs to J.K Rowling. But maybe if I'm good I'll get Tom Felton for Christmas? No...oh well. **

"I'm not gonna bite Granger." Draco said without even looking up, causing Hermione to get flushed and look at her papers. She had been staring at him like he was an animal in a cage for the better part of ten minutes. To her, he seemed perfectly content to sit across from her, fill out paperwork, and just do the mundane things without complaining that it was beneath him or pointless. Nothing of the sort ever escaped his lips. In fact, nothing really escaped his lips unless it was work related.

Now of course that didn't mean he made things easy for her. Draco was constantly pushing Hermione's buttons. He moved her stuff, he put his feet on her desk when he came in, he never filed his papers properly with her, he forgot to tell her when he was gonna pop by for meetings. Hermione suspected he did it just to piss her off but couldn't accuse him of that yet. Still, he was a surprisingly good worker and took the same pride in his work that hermione herself did. It was very different from what she had expected when she went to Ron and Harry with the news.

_2 weeks earlier..._

"Ron! Harry! Get down here!" Hermione yelled, calling them both down from where they were in their home.

"What is it Hermione?" Harry asked sleepily, rubbing his temples and then fruitlessly trying to tame his hair as he came down the stairs.

"Yeah Mione? What's all the yelling about?" Ron asked with a warm smile that Hermione knew was just for her. It was that smile that saved him from a lecture about just how much she still _hated_ that nickname.

"I just found out that...er...well..." Hermione suddenly lost her nerve to speak as the words came to her lips.

"Oh come on Hermione, out with it." Harry said teasingly and a little reassuringly.

"Draco Malfoy is coming to work at the ministry." She blurted at rapid fire speed to rip the bandaid off quickly.

"WHAT?" They both exclaimed in what Hermione almost thought was a comical sounding unison. She waited as the expressions flashed on their faces and finally Ron was the one to regain speech. When he did finally find his voice, he did so viciously. Hermione could even see his face turn splotchy and bits of it going shades of scarlet with his rage.

"THEY"RE LETTING THAT SOD WORK AT THE MINISTRY?" He yelled, his voice echoing through the small house.

"Do they _not _ know who he is and what is family has done? He was a DEATH EATER" Ron ranted starting to pace back and forth now.

"Is Kingsley off his rocker?" On and on ron went as Hermione watched. After a few minutes it was Harry who finally spoke up and broke Ron's rant up.

"I don't like it, I'm not saying that working with Malfoy is gonna be peachy but...Malfoy could be useful. He _ did _ redeem himself a little in the end."

"How?" Ron scoffed turning to Harry.

"We'd all be dead if he had told Bellatrix who we were all those years ago." Harry pointed out calmly.

"Fat lot of good that did. Hermione suffered and Dobby died." Ron fired back. Hermione didn't speak up about the half crazed, probably imagined happenings after she was tortured.

"But we lived because he lied. Then he didn't hurt me in the room of requirement and he could have, and his mother saved me too. The way I see it I owe him my support on this and that makes us even. I'm not saying I wanna be his best mate but I'm not going to protest." Harry said with a little bit of authority behind his voice. Ron just grumbled about how the whole world had gone mad and walked away cursing

_Present_

Hermione sighed and pushed the memory aside. The last two weeks had been frustrating at worst and awkward at best but she was starting to regret doubting Draco's work ethic.

"Earth to Granger." She heard Draco say as he waved a hand in her face.

"Hmm? What?" She asked blinking rapidly.

"We need to go drop these off in Kingsley's office." He reminded her waving a manilla folder in his hand.

"Oh right, lead the way." Hermione offered and Draco fell into step beside her easily as they walked through the marbled hallways.

"So, I assume you'll be going to the memorial ball this weekend." He offered conversationally.

Hermione looked at him strangely for a moment and nodded. "Of course. I'm sort of a guest of honor." Hermione replied gently.

"Ah right...the golden trio and all that. And Longbottom and that Lovegood girl." He said thinking. "The students and teachers who fought. It's just a big fundraiser though. But...I'm expected to attend as a ministry member and...for other reasons." He said with a sigh.

"Not very fond of parties?" She asked with an amused smirk, happy to see that SOMETHING bothered him, made him lose that ever present cool.

"Not particularly but then again...the guests that attended my mother's parties weren't the sort of crowd that you'd want to talk to." he explained simply.

"Ah." Hermione said in sudden understanding and let the matter drop, and the two of them didn't speak much for after that.

**Draco's POV**

After the brief conversation in the hallway, Draco found himself burning a little. Under his skin, that insatiable itch that couldn't be scratched,couldn't find it's way out. It found it's way to his chest, residing there in a dull heavy ache. There were very few ways that Draco seemed to get rid of the ache. One was talking to Hermione. Even her rage soothed the ache and the itch something fierce. The other, was talking to his mother and...occasionally his father.

After work, he apparated home and called out for his mother. A house elf appeared and told him that his mother was in the library. He found her tearing up and looking at an old wedding album of her and his father. It was times like this that the ache in his chest made itself most present.

"Oh mother...not this again." He said gently taking the book from her hands and sat her down on the couch.

"Why do you put yourself through this? You deserved so much better."

"Because he was...no IS my husband Draco. I took vows, to stand by him through thick and thin" His mother exclaimed firmly. "Besides...I...I love him." She added, barely above a whisper.

"I...alright." Draco gave in weakly, knowing that his mother wasn't going to bend on this. "I...I think I need to go visit him today." he conceded as well because it had been a week since he went to see his father.

"Alright Dear. Send him my love." Narcissa said and went back to looking at her photo albums. Draco was still sort of infuriated that even out of their home, his father had a sick hold on his mother's mind.

He disapparated on the spot and appeared in front of St. Mungo's hospital nodding to the nurse at the front desk who knew him by name and sent him to the proper floor.

His father's room was at the end of a long pale green hallway, currently quiet probably due to meds being handed out before he got there.

Draco always prided himself on being able to compartmentalize this, to shove his father in the little box like he was shoved into a padded cell currently but Draco never got used to seeing his father so broken, no matter how much he had done it already.

Lucius Malfoy was a shadow of his former self. The icy stare that used to bring men to their knees begging for favor or mercy was frantic now, the blue eyes shifting constantly and almost vacant in their stare, not seeing anything. Today was a bad day. His father was curled in a corner mumbling nonsensical nothings, rocking back and forth. His long hair laid limp and lanky around his face, giving his skin an even pailer pallor than before.

Draco stood tall and proud as he walked in, not allowing himself disgust or pity for the man who had raised him.

"Father?" He said softly but evenly.

"Draco? Draco my boy. Come here." His father said almost as if he were waking out of a trance. He straightened a little.

"How is your mother?" Lucius asked which surprised Draco. He didn't think that Lucius actually knew his mother existed outside of their bedroom or when public appearances weren't needed.

"She's...good. She's strong." Draco said proudly.

"Good...good. We'll all need to be strong when the Dark Lord rises again." Lucius said with a sort of hysterical bubbling laughter that put Draco on edge. He couldn't help the lip curl that came to his lips at his father's words.

"Father. The Dark Lord is dead. He's not coming back." Draco managed to say with no venom.

"He's coming back Draco...he always comes back." Lucius said shakily and started to ramble. Draco couldn't handle it. Not now, probably not ever.

Draco got up, smoothing the lapels of his suit jacket. "Of course Father. I'll come visit again in a few days." He added tiredly.

"Make sure you're prepared Draco! The Malfoy name must rise again!" Lucius called after him as the door swung shut.

Draco immediately went and found the healer who was working with his father.

"I thought you said my father was getting better." Draco growled, frustrated beyond belief.

"He...he is Mr. Malfoy." The healer stammered taken aback. "Please, you have to be patient. There will be days like today. The come fewer and fewer these days. He'll be ready to come home soon. The potions are working and the spells are helping but there is only so much magic can do. This man has been seriously traumatized and he needs a _personal _touch. He needs to be dealt with very carefully." The healer explained and Draco nodded curtly.

"I apologize for barging in here. I let my temper get the best of me." He said cooly. It was sincere if cold and professional.

With a quick thank you to the healer, Draco walked out the door and silently, a small part of him lamented the loss of the man his father was and hoped that he would get better.

**AN: That's all for this chapter folks. I hope you enjoy. I figure we needed a little insight to Draco's shift in personality right now. I am gonna have a little side time with Ginny, Luna, Ron, Harry, and such with our main characters but there will be more Draco and Hermione interaction next chapter. The next chapter really is a big one as far as shifts in their dynamic go! I'm excited and I hope you all are too. Reviews are love and Follows are divine! **


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